A podium was BMW's reward

Dyson
Rahal Letterman BMW
Risi
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Dyson
LONG BEACH, CA April 18, 2009 "The engine, the drivability of the car, the engineers knowing what the car wants everything is coming together very well," commented Butch Leitzinger after he and Marino Franchitti finished third in LMP2 at today's Long Beach ALMS race. "The package is gelling quite nicely," said Chris Dyson after he and Guy Smith took second in class in the #16 BP Mazda Lola Coupe. "We are getting our arms around this extremely strong car."

Guy Smith started the #16 car and led the P2 class for more than half of the race. "I got alongside the Acura at the start and when he braked, I was going to brake later. I know our Mazda engine has good grunt off the line and I useed that to complete the pass. I held the gap and pulled a bit on him in traffic. I was able to control the pace and speed up when needed."

At 100 minutes, this was the shortest race of the year for the ALMS. It put more emphasis on the race's only pit stop and the team executed both well. Leitzinger came in on lap 40 for fuel, tires and a driver change over to Franchitti. Smith was in one lap latter for fuel and change-off to Dyson, but the #16 crew did not change tires. "We double-stinted our Michelin tires and the tires were consistently fast. I was still gaining on the Acura toward the end."

Last year's race was yellow-free and this year's was closing in on the same outcome until four laps from the end when there was a full-course yellow for a burning car in the run-off in turn one. The driver escaped i jury and the race ended under yellow.

"We are starting to get all the pieces together for a competitive season," Dyson said. "It is great to get a double-podium finish here for Mazda at Long Beach. We had a solid run and had the pace to match the leaders all day. We are very positive about the coming races"
Rahal Letterman BMW
Long Beach, Calif. - April 18, 2009... With a third-place GT2 class finish by the No. 92 M3 of Tommy Milner and Dirk Muller in the Tequila Patron American Le Mans Series at Long Beach the BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team reached the ALMS podium for the second consecutive race. The duo completed 70 laps around the 1.968-mile temporary street circuit in the one-hour-and-forty-minute contest.

Bill Auberlen and Joey Hand scored their first points of the season, finishing eighth in the No. 90 M3 after losing four laps following a collision with a lapped competitor just past the one-hour mark.

Today's finish moves BMW to fourth in GT2 Manufacturer points. Milner and Muller now stand fifth in GT2 Driver points.

The race began under a bright Southern California sun with a track temperature of 100.4 F, as Tommy Milner started the No. 92 M3 from third and Bill Auberlen behind the wheel of the No. 90 M3 in fourth.

At the 30-minute mark with 21 laps completed, Milner held onto the third position in a great battle with the fourth- and fifth-place competitor's only seconds behind. Auberlen had fallen back to sixth, eight seconds behind his teammate.

Fifteen minutes later the GT2 leader fell out with a broken suspension and everyone moved up one position, Milner now 23 seconds from the new leader. Milner lost the second spot on lap 38 as the battle for the podium got even hotter.

With one hour gone, Auberlen pitted having completed 40 laps. Hand joined the race with a full tank of fuel and new Dunlop tires on the No. 90 M3. Milner pitted five laps later, handing the No. 92 M3 over to Dirk Muller in good shape.

With all the GT2 class pit stops complete and some 30 minutes left in the race, the two M3s were back in qualifying order with the No. 92 in third and the No. 90 in fourth.

On lap 52, bad luck struck the No. 90 M3 when Hand and a lapped competitor made contact. Damage to the front splitter and fender forced him to the pits. With only around 20 minutes remaining, Hand returned his bruised and bandaged M3 to the race in tenth place. He passed one competitor and achieved another spot through attrition. With five minutes left the only yellow flag of the race flew and the race ended the field behind the safety car.

On May 15 - 17 the American Le Mans Series travels to Miller Motorsports Park, in Tooele, Utah, for the Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix.

Tommy Milner, driver No. 92 M3 (third):
"Our second podium proves how strong this team is. The tires were consistent and the team called a great pit strategy. No one could beat us in the corners."

Dirk Muller, driver No. 92 M3 (third):
"I am thrilled to be on the podium for a second time in a row. Tommy did a fantastic first stint and Dunlop gave us excellent tires. It was quite difficult with all the traffic and the lowering sun became an issue for me late in the race. We had an awesome pit stop. It was really, really, quick. The M3 had me driving to the limit and I was closing the gap to P2. Unfortunately, a slow LMP1 car held me off for five laps and I lost 12 to 14 seconds. We certainly had the potential for a better result."

Bobby Rahal, Team Principal:
"We are certainly happy to be on the podium for a second time. It is the best evidence of progress. It looked like we could have finished even better, but on a tight track like this it is very easy to lose time to slower traffic, even slower prototype class cars."

Martin Birkmann, BMW of North America, LLC Motorsports Manager:
"We captured a second consecutive podium, but again we were unfortunate with the No. 90 M3. This time however it wasn't racing luck as Joey tangled with a lapped competitor and perhaps some insufficient flagging played a part. One target was to get both cars to the checkered flag so for that we can say mission accomplished. We continue to look at the glass half-full and we will see what happens at Miller."
Risi

Pierre Kaffer and Jaime Melo put on a great display of driving through traffic on the hot and demanding streets of Long Beach today, bringing their Risi Competizione Ferrari F430 GT through from the back of the grid to finish second in the GT2 class, with Melo recording the fastest lap of the race along the way. The result moves both drivers and team up into second place in the 2009 American Le Mans Series GT2 Championship standings.

In just 100 minutes of racing, and with only one yellow caution period (just five minutes before the end of the race), there just wasn't enough time available to allow the Risi Competizione driver pairing to make an attack on the class lead which was held from just before half distance through to the checkered flag by the #45 Flying Lizard Porsche.

Thirty-two-year-old Kaffer, who was making his Long Beach debut, had been forced to take the start from the back of the grid, despite Jaime Melo having convincingly clinched the GT2 pole position yesterday. In post-qualifying technical inspection, the Risi car was deemed to be sitting half a millimetre too low and the penalty was cancellation of its pole sitting time.

Kaffer drove with commendable sense and determinedly picked off his competitors one by one, moving from 11th in class to 6th in the first 15 minutes of the race. He continued to make the same steady progress until the end of his stint and was up to 3rd by the 50 minute, mid-race mark. When the AdShip-supported Ferrari made its only stop of the race in the 68th minute of the race, Melo was running in 2nd -- a position he held through to the end. The GT2 winner and the Risi Ferrari both finished a lap ahead of the 3rd, 4th and 5th placed runners.

Jaime Melo battled with understeer throughout his stint, but was full of praise for his new-for-2009 team mate. "Pierre did a really great job, really great, getting us into a podium place. The car had more understeer compared with practice, but I could still do good lap times so it shows that we have a great car. It could have been better but that's what we had. Anyway, next time we will do it [finish at the front]."

Pierre Kaffer said "It wasn't such an easy race for us, starting from the back. It was disappointing to have had that happen as we could have won. But, it could have been much worse like St Pete. The hardest cars to overtake were the Vici Porsche and the BMWs as they (the BMWs) were always faster on the straight than us. Following all those cars very closely also meant that it was very, very hot for me in the car but it was okay in the end. Second is second."

The next race will be the Larry H Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix at Miller Motorsports Park, Salt Lake City, Utah on Sunday, May 17, 2009. The green flag is scheduled for 2:15 pm MT and will be broadcast on SPEED, same day tape delayed beginning at 10:00 pm EST. Outside the USA, Motors TV will broadcast live coverage on Sunday, May 17 beginning at 7:00 pm CET (Central European Time). Live Timing & Scoring and American Le Mans Radio can be found at the new americanlemans.com.